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  • Country ranking ?

    111
  • Producer ranking ?

    30
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2045

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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Jancis Robinson MW critic

Very deep crimson with some evolution at the rim. Strongly scented - sweet, candied violets. Very sweet yet vigorous and still with lots of quite grainy tannins. Real power and no shortage of potential! Drink now - 2016. Score: 18/20

Serena Sutcliffe MW critic

Peppery violets on the nose. Strong, powerful and alcoholic but such sweetness and drive. Damsons finish. Huge wine which always shows beautifully at every outing.

Michael Broadbent MW critic

A superb bottle at a dinner party at home, May 2001. More recently: soft tawny-red, gloriously fragrant and flowery. Complete, excellent. Score: 5 Stars

Clive Coates MW critic

Fulllish colour, just about mature. Full, firm nose. Still undeveloped. Still a bit closed. The complete wine. Fullish, just about ready. Real depth. Excellent depth. Excellent complex fruit. Delicious. Score: 20/20

Robert Parker critic

The 1970 is a monumental vintage port and one of the greats of the vintage. It begs to be drunk now, although it will last for at least another two decades. Score: 93/100

Michael Broadbent MW critic

Originally (July 1972) opaque, still deep, plummy and fairly intense, showing rich extract. Fragrant, high-toned yet harmonious bouquet though still a bit hard. Very sweet, full-bodied, lots of fruit, grip, length, tannin and acidity. Chocolate and spice. Score: 5 Stars

 

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The Story

Graham's has a reputation as a producer of outstanding Vintage Port for well over a century. These wines are renowned for their remarkable richness, concentration and firm tannic structure: a combination which yields impressive longevity. Graham's Vintage Ports consistently attain the highest ratings in tastings and invariably attract very high bids at fine wine auctions.

Vintage Ports are only made in years of exceptionally high quality harvests, which on average occur two or three times in a decade. The weather in the vineyards is the principal determining factor: conditions must be ideal throughout the growing season, as well as during the subsequent harvest.

Graham's extraordinary quality is the result of the unique characteristics of the five vineyards that contribute to the Vintage Port.

Graham's declares a Vintage Port only in exceptional years, perhaps three times in a decade, and in the intervening years may produce a Quinta Vintage Ports from Quinta dos Malvedos or Quinta do Tua. These Quinta Vintage Ports are aged in our cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia for 10 years or more after harvest, before being released to the market, ready for enjoyment.

Graham’s Vintage Ports are outstanding for their consistent quality and long life. James Suckling’s series of notes for old vintages tasted in 1990 confirm this – how many wines, after 40 or more years, are rated so highly and noted as “will improve with age” ? 

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Wine Information

Vintage Overview

Magnificent wines with abundant ripe
fruit flavours and concentrated tannins.
The harmony and balance of the best
1970's wines is quite simply
outstanding. The best 1970’s should be
ranked amongst the all-time greatest
Vintage Ports produced in the Douro.
After thirty five years of ageing, these
wines are currently in perfect balance
but they will continue to age gracefully
for many years to come.

The Viticultural Year

A wet winter with a cold and dry March.
Warm weather in April was ideal for
flowering. Spring and summer were calm
and settled. Rain fell in late August and
early September. Harvesting started at
Malvedos on 21st September. Good
weather throughout the vintage.

Contemporary Family Comments
“Thunder showers these last few days
have amounted to several hours of
steady rain, very welcome and ideal
providing it now clears. Prospects in the
better districts good for quality and
average yield”.
Michael Symington
28 August 1970

Wine Specification
Alcohol by Volume: 21% v/v (20ºc)
Total Acidity: 4.05 g/l tartaric acid
Baumé: 3.90

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Vintage 1970

Port Vintage Report: An exceptional quality Vintage, with great fruit and tannin harmony, ensuring longevity. Almost all producers declared production. A lot of rain in January and February, followed by a cold and dry March. The weather started to become hot in April, favouring good blooming and grape maturity. Rain in August and at the beginning of September, but the harvest was made under dry and very hot weather, with the temperature reaching 45¨C in certain areas. Very mature wines.

Generally declared, 1970 was an outstanding vintage with ripe fruit flavours and concentrated tannins, great balance and structure. Certainly one of the absolute finest Vintage Ports of the 50 years up to 1970.  Now mature, it is probably one of the finest glasses of port that you will ever taste. A wine of this quality, from the best houses, will age superbly for many decades to come.

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

11 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Deep, Brick red and Bright

ending

Long, Lingering and Gentle

flavors

Plum, Dried-fruit, Cherry, Coffee, Toasty and Leather

nose

Open, Complex, Seductive and Generous

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Warming, Medium tannin, Well-Integrated, Well-structured, Perfectly balanced, Developing, Full-bodied, Harmonious, Focused, Rich and Silky tannins

Verdict

Well-rounded and Sophisticated

Written Notes

Another of the Symington stable, whether you prefer Dow’s or Graham’s will simply come down to personal preference – better yet, fine to love both. Graham’s is another of the world’s great wine producers, founded by the Graham brothers in 1820 and becoming part of Symington in 1970. Fruit from the famed Quinta dos Malvedos is used in its best VPs. In lesser years, it will be released as a single quinta Port.

A stunning Port. Rich, ripe, and opulent with power, balance, and length. Seems to linger forever. Great complexity here. This is a wonderful Port and still has years ahead of it. 97.

  • 97p

Graham's Vintage Port 1970 / 20 points /Fulllish colour, just about mature. Full, firm nose. Still undeveloped. Still a bit closed. The complete wine. Fullish, just about ready. Real depth. Excellent depth. Excellent complex fruit. Delicious.

  • 100p

Dark ruby without much sign of age at the rim. Very sweet, plummy, super-‘smooth’ nose. In 1970 the Symingtons bought Graham from the Graham family (whose descendant Johnny now makes Churchill) so they felt they had to make a great debut vintage. Sweetness is the hallmark with some floral hint. Still very lively and lots of tannin still hidden under all that sumptuously ripe fruit. Very vigorous. Fresh, perfumed finish. A wine they often show in Asia to demonstrate vintage port’s longevity, and among the Syms reckoned one of their top ports of the century.

  • 96p
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Information

Origin

Porto, Douro

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

No Potential

Fake factory

None

Other wines from this producer

10 Year Old Tawny Port

20 Years Old Tawny

30 Years Old Tawny

40 Years Old Tawny

Bicentenary Edition 2020 Vintage Port

Blend No 5

Ne-Oublie Very Old Tawny Port

Quinta dos Malvedos

Single Harvest Tawny Port

The Stone Terraces Vintage Por

The Stone Terraces Vintage Port

Vargellas Vinha Velha Vintage Port

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